Chapter 7: 6. Ghostly Secret Treasure

6. Ghostly Secret Treasure

"Woof woof woof!"

"Awoo awoo…"

"Hiss—woo—"

The vicious, eerie barking still rang in Zhou Chang's ears, but as Zhou Sanji carried him away in flight, the barking lingering at his ears also grew a little more distant.

They had already gotten far from Li Xiamei.

But when Zhou Sanji, carrying him on his back, once again happened upon that fenced courtyard, it was as if all his strength had been drained; he dropped to the ground in a heap, and Zhou Chang on his back was flung off, ending up leaning askew against a tree stump.

A layer of rammed-earth wall behind the fenced courtyard faced the people present.

Zhou Chang and the others had circled from the front gate of the fenced courtyard around to the back of the house.

But the problem was that Zhou Chang had carefully observed the whole way — they had clearly been walking in a straight line, and should have been getting farther and farther from Li Xiamei's "home," yet now they had circled around to the back of the fenced courtyard — this situation was abnormal in itself.

"Hoo—hoo—"

Zhou Sanji was gasping for breath, his face flushed a purplish red.

The flame of a fallen horse lantern nearby flickered, casting the expressions of him and Sun Yanshun in an ever more panicked, uneasy light.

"I can't run anymore, can't run anymore!" Zhou Sanji shook his head again and again, but the moment he raised his eyes and saw Zhou Chang leaning against the tree stump opposite, a struggling look appeared in his gaze. Bracing his hand on the ground, he still hauled himself up and walked toward Zhou Chang.

Sun Yanshun's face was full of terror; he glanced around uneasily.

Seeing Zhou Sanji walk toward Zhou Chang at this moment, the goatee-bearded man suddenly fixed his gaze on the grandfather and grandson. His face, from excessive fright, appeared especially twisted and ferocious: "Think of something, Old Duan Gong!

Running like this isn't going to work!

As long as we're still alive, still moving and running, Li Xiamei can smell the living scent on us, can hear the sounds of us moving — even our breathing, she can hear it perfectly clearly!

She can find us easily — we can't outrun her!

Do you have any other ideas?!"

Zhou Chang saw him, as he spoke, grip the common saber whose blade had been polished to a silvery gleam, and come toward him. So he gave Zhou Sanji a look, warning him to be careful behind him.

Zhou Sanji read Zhou Chang's look, and abruptly whirled around—

The short-sword magical artifact from the pouch at his waist had already been snatched into his hand, pointed straight at Sun Yanshun, who had been coming toward them!

"What are you doing with that blade?!" Zhou Sanji's eyes bulged wide. The paint smeared on his face, as his facial muscles twitched, looked gloomy and terrifying. "If you lot hadn't listened to me, bickering and making a racket the whole way, pissing and farting, offending the spirits, we'd have long since gone our separate ways home by now!

I haven't even settled the score with you yet, and you're pointing a blade at me?

What do you think you're doing?!"

Sun Yanshun, being glared at ferociously by Zhou Sanji, had the fierce glint that had just risen on his face instantly weaken by three parts.

He lowered the blade tip and put on an apologetic smile for Zhou Sanji: "I-I don't wanna do anything… this blade, I've just been holding it in my hand, I wasn't thinking of doing anything with it. I just wanted to ask you, Old Duan Gong — do you have any ideas?

Relying on just our two legs to try to escape now, I'm afraid it's just not possible…"

"Drop the blade!" Zhou Sanji glared at Sun Yanshun.

Sun Yanshun's expression was hesitant: "Carrying a blade to defend myself ain't anything wrong, is it…"

Zhou Sanji's tone grew heavier: "Drop the blade! A person like you — when you saw Li Xiamei coming, you didn't warn anyone, just ran off on your own, watching your own disciple get killed with your own eyes — who knows if you'd try to harm us?!

Drop the blade!"

Sun Yanshun, shamed into a dark expression by Zhou Sanji's words, kept a stiff face and stared at Zhou Sanji for a moment, then suddenly grinned, made as if to toss the common saber in his hand toward a spot not far away—

Zhou Sanji watched him throw down the weapon in his hand, and his expression eased slightly.

But at that very moment, Sun Yanshun suddenly dropped low, rolled a few times on the spot, and in an instant swapped places with Zhou Sanji!

He had rolled behind Zhou Sanji, one arm hooking around the neck of Zhou Chang, who was leaning askew against the tree stump, the other hand scooping up the common saber from the ground, the blade pressed against Zhou Chang's neck!

Zhou Chang looked at the coldly gleaming common saber, his gaze dark and unfathomable.

Zhou Sanji flew into a rage, but seeing Sun Yanshun holding the blade against his grandson's neck, he was again afraid to hurt the hostage and did not dare act rashly.

The barking grew louder and louder, closer and closer.

No one knew when Li Xiamei would appear again.

Sun Yanshun grinned coldly, stared at Zhou Sanji, and said ferociously: "You've already summoned Zhong Kui once before — can you try summoning some other god now, to help us get past this hurdle?"

Zhou Sanji, hearing this, glanced at the other with a cold, sinister look, and laughed coldly: "You want me dead?!

One matter, one god — don't double up!

If I go summon another god now, let's not even talk about whether I can summon one — even if I did, that god, seeing the incense-fire aura of Grand Master Zhong Kui still on me, would definitely kill me first!"

"But if you die, the god will take your life and still get the job done!

You'll be dead, but Zhou Chang can live!

I'll help you carry Zhou Chang out of here — as long as you summon the god, I swear I'll get Zhou Chang out safe and sound — I swear on my own life!" Sun Yanshun abruptly raised three fingers together, striking the pose of pointing heaven and swearing an oath. "On the contrary, if you refuse to summon the god, then watch your grandson die first!

Anyway, none of us can escape — before I die, I've got to drag someone down with me!

At your age, you can't have much longer to live anyway — can't you think of A Chang a little more, let him live a bit longer?!

Don't try to stall for time. I'll count to three. With every count, I'll cut A Chang once, let him bleed a little. After three counts, you won't even need to think it over — A Chang will definitely be dead by then anyway!"

Zhou Sanji's body swayed and trembled, his face a mask of struggle. The fist hidden in his sleeve clenched and unclenched. Under the pressure of Sun Yanshun's words and the oppressive barking at his ears, he suddenly let out a furious curse: "Damn your ancestors' gravestones!

If it weren't for you — if it weren't for you grave-robbing thieves, I'd have carried A Chang home by now!

That 'Old Feng's family' are the guardians of the Ghostly Secret Treasure. You tomb-raiding thieves must have come to dig up the Ghostly Secret Treasure guarded by Li Xiamei, and that's what woke her up! That's what brought this disaster on us!

Damn your ghost-whores!

Now you've caused the trouble, can't smooth things over, and you come threatening me, wanting me to spend my life to get you out?!"

Amid Zhou Sanji's roaring curses, Sun Yanshun instead became unusually calm.

He said with a cold laugh: "Haven't you seen? On the shovels, iron picks, and other tools my disciple and I brought, there's not a speck of fresh earth!

I hadn't even finished reading the feng shui to fix the burial spot — the sky suddenly went dark, and before my Luoyang shovel had even gone down — a black wind rose up over the mass grave!

We really did come to rob graves and steal treasure, but we weren't crazy enough to steal the Ghostly Secret Treasure guarded by Old Feng's family!

In this stretch of mass graves, only you—only you alone dug something up—you dug Ah Chang out. Ah Chang, I told you long ago he looked different from before, like he'd shed his old self and been reborn!

He—might just be the ghost-treasure that Old Feng's family was guarding!"

"Go fuck yourself with that bullshit!" Zhou Sanji cursed at Sun Yanshun again.

Yet, meeting Sun Yanshun's grim, sinister eyes, the curses stuck in his throat, and he could not utter another word.

He recalled the scene when he had dug Ah Chang out of the mass graves…

One shovelful down, the sky began to darken…

When he pried out Ah Chang's coffin, black winds rose across the fields…

Ah Chang really had become different from before…

All of this left him unable to refute Sun Yanshun's words.

"Why'd you stop talking? I hit the mark, didn't I!" Sun Yanshun laughed coldly, the commoner's saber pressed against Zhou Chang's neck trembling slightly. "He is the treasure Old Feng's family was guarding. You said it yourself—your Ah Chang got targeted by a ghost. Maybe the ghost that targeted him was leading you on purpose to bury Ah Chang here, let him die, and turn into a 'ghost-treasure'!

For him to come back to life now—truly not easy!

Coming back to life is so hard—surely you don't want Li Xiamei to take him away and lock him back in a coffin?

—Are you going to invite the spirits or not?

Are you inviting them or not!"

Under Sun Yanshun's coercion, the last of Zhou Sanji's resistance was on the verge of collapse. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he was already preparing to nod and agree to Sun Yanshun.

This youngest grandson of his was no longer the same as his Ah Chang.

But at least the other still wore Ah Chang's flesh, still recognized him as his grandfather.

Then he was willing to lay down his own old life to save his grandson!

"I…" Zhou Sanji opened his mouth, managing only one word.

Just as Sun Yanshun saw Zhou Sanji about to nod in agreement, his heart pounding wildly, he suddenly felt the commoner's saber in his hand stop trembling. A tremendous force transmitted up through the blade—the 'Ah Chang' he had been holding hostage, who had all along seemed paralyzed and unable to move, now, his face deathly pale, stretched out one hand and clamped the Hukou of his palm death-grip onto the saber pressed against his neck.

Clusters of translucent, faintly white silk threads wound around Zhou Chang's hand gripping the saber's blade. Though the threads were slender, they could not be cut by the iron blade at his neck!

He gripped the blade in one hand and suddenly yanked hard—Sun Yanshun, who had been holding him hostage from behind and gripping the hilt, was dragged right up in front of Zhou Chang!

He even reached out to snatch the blade from Zhou Chang's hand, only to have Zhou Chang flip his grip and slash it into his arm!

Blood immediately gushed from Sun Yanshun's arm!

Zhou Chang's deathly pale face looked down at Sun Yanshun on the ground. He raised his blade and stepped on Sun Yanshun's chest.

The silver-polished blade of the commoner's saber pressed against the side of Sun Yanshun's neck.

"Grandpa, I suddenly thought of a way where neither of us has to die.

But it requires this old man to make a little sacrifice—he's already at such an age, won't live much longer anyway, he should sacrifice himself a bit, give the young folks a way to survive…" Zhou Chang said.

Zhou Sanji looked at Zhou Chang standing in front of him, and his first focus was not on the plan Zhou Chang had mentioned. His eyes were full of joy, the wrinkles at their corners crowding together: "Y-you can move?!"

"Yes."

Zhou Chang nodded, the blade pressed against Sun Yanshun's neck not relaxing in the slightest.

Once he had donned that translucent, faintly white garment in his mind, he gained the ability to control this body with his consciousness.

Until now he had kept it hidden; even when he saw Zhou Sanji carrying him growing more and more exhausted, he had remained coldly indifferent—all for the sake of striking suddenly.

When everyone assumed he could not move, that he was just an object to be cut up at will, his sudden action could produce an unexpected effect.

Especially—every single thread making up this translucent garment tugged at Zhou Chang's thoughts, draining his spirit heavily. In just a moment, it gave him the feeling that he could not maintain it for long.

If he had used this method earlier, he might by now have already exhausted his spirit, become a muddled wreck, fish and meat on someone else's chopping block.

Therefore, for him at present, this method could only be used as a killing move.