Chapter 61: It's Here

Realizing that it had gained such abilities simply by sucking a few mouthfuls of the flesh and blood of a living human, the spectral entities that had moments before been terrified and infuriated by the martial artist's torch-wielding bravado instantly lost all their fear.

The martial artists had to run on their feet, but these creatures could fly. Furthermore, the martial artists were living mortals who had to navigate through doors and skirt around walls, whereas the spirits needed no such accommodations—they could simply pass straight through anything in their path!

Moreover, they clearly perceived that the courage of those few martial artists had dissipated significantly, dragging down their vital life energy along with it. They even made the pleasant discovery that earlier, because there had only been the potbellied Master Qian, who was suffering from the five signs of decay in his twilight years, they had failed to notice another benefit of the dispersion of human vital energy.

Yet now, with the appearance of several martial artists brimming with vital blood and energy, much of the life force radiating from them turned nocturnal and yin-like in the night air, easily drawn into the spirits' mouths and nostrils. Every ghost felt immeasurably lighter for it.

Therefore, elders often said that when encountering wild ghosts on the road, one must never show cowardice; in such cases, if humans feared ghosts by three parts, ghosts feared humans by seven.

Pondering this, the wicked spirits exchanged malicious glances. Intentionally slowing their pace just a fraction, they pursued the group as if they could catch up at any moment. They intended to prepare a first-class feast! After being frightened and shaken all night, it was time to collect their principal with heavy interest!

During this chase, more than a few alarmed servants and martial artists woke up and rushed over, only to have their lanterns and torches extinguished in a gust of ghostly wind, after which eerie shrieks and strange cries scared them into fleeing blindly to catch up with the master's retreating party.

By the time some twenty or thirty people had been driven like mice before a cat, passing through the grand gate leading to the front courtyard, two or three of the spirits—who had absorbed so much along the way that they felt practically weightless—leisurely intended to fly ahead to the doorway and block the last remaining path of survival for this pack of fools.

Yet the moment they crossed the manor wall and entered the space, they were instantly startled from their bluish-green faces to pale white ones, backing away in repeated terror.

"What is this? What on earth is this?!"

That ghost-head saber was an heirloom weapon passed down through generations of the Wu family. Over the long years, it had decapitated an untold number of vicious and heinous criminals. Naturally ferocious and brimming with a baleful aura, it was a potent weapon capable of driving away evil and slaying malevolent specters. Now, it had been further blessed and reinforced by Du Yuan with the collective faith of the common folk of Qing County, making it worthy of being called reborn in a new skin!

Therefore, a few specters that had only attained a slight climate of power were like mice encountering a mighty cat the very instant they set eyes on the blade—their souls shattered in sheer terror, even with no one holding it!

The martial artists, who had been fleeing with the large group, saw from afar that the spirits had been frightened into retreating by the ghost-head saber. He had already intended to seize the blade to counterattack and fight his way to survival, and at this sight, his spirit soared. With a thunderous roar, he let out Master Qian—who was as pale as gold paper and utterly collapsed in exhaustion—and lunged forward like an arrow released from a taut bow.

With a few agile bounds and leaps, he had already reached the porch pillars!

Spreading his fingers like claws, he gripped the hilt of the ghost-head saber embedded deeply into the pillar!

The moment the lethal weapon was in his grasp, his heart settled completely. The terror and depression of being chased and toyed with by the spirits instantly transformed into an irrepressible, wild joy at the corners of his mouth.

This feeling, this feeling is—!

Even a mortal of flesh and blood like me can slay demons and vanquish devils tonight?!

Barely suppressing the surging emotions in his chest, the martial artist exerted his strength and pulled. As the long blade cleared the pillar, he snapped his back straight, spun around to point the weapon from afar at the few spirits trailing behind, and laughed aloud:

"Halt, you beastly creatures! Do you still dare to step forward and toy with your grandfathers now?!"

The spirits, who had been pursuing him at a leisurely and unhurried pace, were instantly frozen in place, utterly dumbfounded.

In the next instant, their bewilderment turned into horror, and their horror fractured into wordless shrieks:

"Why do you people have a thing like that?!"

In the eyes of ordinary mortals, that ghost-head saber possessed no striking majesty, and someone lacking discernment might even have sold it off as scrap iron. But falling into the sight of evil entities, especially ghosts and specters, it was truly a terrifying object as fearsome as the blazing sun hanging in the sky!

Merely looking at it from afar made them feel as though their three souls and seven mortal spirits had been entirely ripped away.

Especially two or three of the spirits among them; the moment they laid eyes on the ghost-head saber, they suddenly felt a piercing pain in their necks. Raising their hands to clutch at them, their entire heads dropped off in sheer astonishment.

Clearly, they must have been executed by this very blade during their lifetimes!

"Hahaha, this is a treasure used by Daoist Master Du! So you ghost-creatures, why aren't you kneeling to receive your deaths from your grandfather!"

Amidst the roaring cheers and expectations of the crowd, the martial artist brandished the ghost-head saber and charged forward.

Frightened out of their wits, the numerous spirits scattered in all directions, clutching their heads and scurrying like rats.

The others fared somewhat better, but the three headless ones didn't even have time to retrieve their severed heads before the martial artist caught up and cleaved them down one by one, scattering their souls on the spot.

"Ah—!"

Seeing their companions perish so easily, the remaining spirits shrieked as they fled.

They could never have imagined that the delicious meal they had managed to encounter tonight would actually have a ghost-head saber hidden in the house. And having such a formidable artifact hidden away was one thing, but why didn't they bring it out sooner?! What were they doing leaving it right by the front door?

Now look at it; not only had they wasted an entire night of frantic effort, but whether they could even keep their little lives was now a matter of grave doubt.

Initially, the spirits had assumed they could easily outrun a mortal wielding a blade. Yet for some reason, they who had previously been able to drift and pass straight through walls were at this moment acting just like mortals, utterly helpless against those tall courtyard walls. Furthermore, their legs felt leaden and feeble, as though they were wading through thick, sticky mud.

It was undoubtedly because the baleful aura of the ghost-head saber was too overwhelming and overwhelmingly countered yin entities, suppressing their meager supernatural powers to the point where they could hardly be deployed at all.

After two more companions were hunted down and chopped to pieces, the three entities that had absorbed the most flesh and blood and possessed the strongest yin energy found themselves circling back in their frantic flight right before the main gates of the Qian residence.

Looking at the tightly shut doors ahead, and then at the relentless martial artist in hot pursuit, the three spirits gritted their teeth and whipped up a final gust of wind. Driven by the supreme terror hovering between life and death, they actually managed to lift the door bolt from a distance, screaming in ecstatic joy as they bolted out of this fatal Qian residence ahead of the rest.

Yet they had taken only a few steps when one of them suddenly felt the sky above its head turn pitch black.

Raising its head in astonishment, it saw the plaque hanging above the Qian family gates crashing down right upon it!

Before it was smashed into nothingness, the last thing it saw was the single character of propriety that still retained a shred of color.

*‘Turns out you really can't use the front entrance!’*

The thought had barely surfaced when the plaque descended completely, reducing the number of surviving spirits from three down to the final two.

Daring not to linger, the remaining pair stumbled frantically away toward the distance.

The martial artist, who had chased them out to the threshold, wished dearly to follow, but he was already gasping for breath with weakened legs. Leaning heavily on the ghost-head saber, he glared with bitter hatred at the last two spirits, whose speeds were increasing as they distanced themselves from the blade's suppressing aura.

"How hateful that I lack the Daoist Master's divine abilities and cannot strike down evil spirits from afar! Otherwise, how could I let you two things escape tonight!"

The martial artist heaved a long sigh. Behind him, the members of the Qian family had all rushed over, most of them staring blankly at their companions, wondering whether they were still trapped inside a dream.

The few men who had accompanied the martial artist to rescue Master Qian were eager to try their hand. Seeing that their sworn brother was utterly spent, they stepped forward one after another and chimed in:

"Come, hand the blade to us! We'll go chase down those two pests!"

"Right, right, right! Let our brothers show off our might tonight, too!"

Which valiant, heroic man didn't want to try his hand at vanquishing demons and subduing devils?

Yet the blade-wielding martial artist shook his head and said:

"Tonight has seen far too many strange occurrences; the household relies entirely on this single blade for protection. It cannot leave!"

There was indeed truth to this reasoning, so the martial artists who had wanted to borrow the saber to flaunt their prowess could only nod in sullen disappointment.

Seeing this, the blade-wielding martial artist sighed once more:

"If only the Daoist Master were here!"

With the Daoist Master's capabilities, he naturally wouldn't have let a single malevolent specter escape.

Yet at that very moment, the members of the Qian family suddenly heard an ethereal, illusory voice echo in the air:

"They have arrived!"

The next instant, the two spirits that had already fled far into the distance were as though tackled from afar by an invisible force. Though nothing could be seen moving around them, they collapsed amidst shrieks of agony, followed by a rapid and complete dissolution.

The members of the Qian family gasped in unending awe, while several of the martial artists' eyes lit up as they exclaimed:

"It is the voice of the Daoist Master!"