“The Five Thunder Protection Curse is actually this powerful?”
Outside the screen, Nan Zhi stared at her palm over and over, unable to contain her immense delight:
“A level 15 female ghost with full health couldn't even take a single hit!”
But on second thought, the greatest strength of these chang ghosts was confusing human minds; aside from that, their combat power was practically zero.
They might not even match the injured Painted Skin Ghost from before.
“Lightning magic really is useful. No wonder protagonists in novels always love using thunder spells. Aside from draining too much mana and being difficult to cultivate, it has practically no drawbacks.”
Only then did Nan Zhi remember that her unlucky younger brother was still unconscious off to the side.
Just as she was about to approach, a frenzied yamen officer drew his blade to block her:
“Are you a human or a ghost?! If you’re a person, why don’t you have a shadow?! Where did you make my gold, silver ingots, and beautiful wives and concubines vanish to? I don't care who you are, change them back right now!”
As moonlight filtered through the dense forest, Nan Zhi clearly saw that his eyes were bloodshot as he glared at her with furious rage, looking as if she were his mortal enemy who killed his father.
The moment his voice fell, the others—who had been dazed and unconscious just moments ago—also struggled to their feet. Like evil ghosts, they swarmed toward her all at once:
“My ingots! My tea! My silk!”
“Give back my gold! That's mine, nobody is allowed to take it!”
“You killed my Xiaocui! You killed my Xiaocui!”
“Kill her! Kill her! If we kill her, we can take our things back!”
Not good. A ghostly shroud.
Nan Zhi was startled.
A red film coated the eyeballs of the crowd, as if blood had seeped into their eyes—a murky, pitch-red shade where no pupils could be seen.
Pairs of translucent ghostly hands covered their faces, blinding them to reality and rendering them unable to tell friend from foe.
They had been blinded by the chang ghosts in the forest!
No wonder that female ghost had fled so cleanly and decisively!
Dealing with a few wounded yamen officers was well within Nan Zhi's abilities.
Dodging a blade flying from out of nowhere, she nimbly leaned low, raised her back foot, and kicked an officer square in the chest, sending him flying over a zhang away.
With that much force, let alone a stray dog, even a young calf would be knocked senseless.
Yet the man, upon hitting the ground, sprang right back up like his backside had springs attached!
Nan Zhi saw it clearly: at that exact instant, a chang ghost silently latched onto the officer’s back, pressing its instep against the living man's sole, tiptoeing in unison—
From a distance, the translucent spirit and the physical body overlapped like a shadowy phantom.
“Kill...”
“Ingots, my gold ingots...”
“So much silver! It’s all mine!”
“Xiaocui, Xiaocui, I’ll avenge you...”
Sensing that Nan Zhi hesitated to harm the innocent host bodies, the chang ghosts took advantage of her reluctance and drove the officers to pounce on her!
“This is endless! That tiger really has become a demon—it plays the discord tactic pretty smoothly!”
Nan Zhi leaped into the air, using momentum to vault onto a massive tree two arm-spans thick, looking down from above.
There were too many.
In the forest, seven officers controlled by chang ghosts tiptoed forward through the woods.
【Ji Fugui】
【An Sanlang】
...
【Huang Yazi】
【Ding Dalang】
With so many chang ghosts, just how many people had this tiger eaten?!
Did the Magistrate of Wen County really not care at all?
Even if he didn't dare face the tiger demon, he could at least report it to the Demon Suppression Division!
Each chang ghost represented a lost human life.
The people killed by this 【Mountain Lord】 would only be more, never fewer.
Thud!
Glaring with ferocity, the officers relentlessly and painlessly slammed their heads into the tree trunk, as if trying to force her down:
Bang!
Thud!
Thud!
The trunk reverberated with heavy thuds and the tree trembled, causing the entire screen to shake along with it.
Nan Zhi had half a mind to leave, but she had entered the mountain specifically to save people. If she fled now, not a single one of them would survive.
They would all end up as the Mountain Lord’s midnight snack.
Wait!
Nan Zhi suddenly thought of something.
According to the materials she had researched, aside from seducing living humans to feed the tiger, chang ghosts also had to clear paths when the tiger moved through the dense forest.
Since these chang ghosts had clearly brought the officers under control yet lingered without leaving, the tiger was eighty to ninety percent likely to be nearby.
With that thought, Nan Zhi immediately had an idea.
“Ahem!”
Clearing her throat, Nan Zhi faced the pitch-black forest and shouted with all her might:
“As expected, a beast is just a beast. Even if it gains spiritual awareness, it will never be as clever as a human. You still walked right into my trap.”
The dense forest made no sound, save for the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Catching sight of an abnormally dark patch within the thickets, Nan Zhi felt greatly reassured.
Leaning casually against the tree, she did her best to make her voice sound steady and composed:
“I am Nanzhizi, a 173rd-generation disciple of the Qingyun Sect. Passing through Dingyuan County, I divined that this place holds a fated opportunity for my Foundation Establishment.
“Coming here tonight to look, it truly is so.
“You beast are indeed cunning and cautious, having these chang ghosts scout the path for you while you hide in the woods without showing your face.
“A pity, though—today, you too will die right here! Hahaha.”
After she finished speaking, the chang ghosts ramming the tree beneath her ceased their movements, staring up at her as if looking at a fool:
At death's door, and she can actually still laugh?
She’s just a slightly capable fledging cultivator, yet she dares to utter such arrogant nonsense about slaying the Mountain Lord?
She must have lost her mind to be babbling like this.
Seeing no movement in the forest yet, Nan Zhi chuckled and shook her head:
“With my strength alone, catching you would naturally be impossible. It’s just that before coming up the mountain, I already informed my senior sister from the sect that there is a white tiger on Wenshan, and that I would skin you to gift her a mattress.”
After a long silence, a massive shadow slowly emerged from deep within the forest, drawing closer from afar.
Unlike the tiger Constable Zhang and the others had seen during the day, this fierce tiger was much larger and far more formidable.
Upon a tiger head as big as a millstone, a bold character for "King" was splashed across the center of its forehead like spilled ink.
Its round eyes slightly narrowed, the golden-brown tiger pupils cold and emotionless; beyond pure bestial nature, they revealed a cruel, ruthless malice.
Its long fur fluttered lightly, the tip of each strand gleaming with faint silver specks in the moonlight, while ring-shaped black stripes patterned its entire body with distinct clarity.
Its lines were sleek and powerful. As the white tiger paced forward, large, bulging muscles could be seen rippling across its four limbs.
What a huge tiger.
Just locking eyes with it through the screen gave Nan Zhi an urge to flee in terror.
It was simply too colossal.
When facing an apex predator, a human truly could feel the primal dread buried deep within their genes and blood.
The white tiger was by no means a "pet" raised in a zoo that had lost its wild, feral instincts.
In every step and posture, every subtle movement, it exuded the arrogant self-assurance of a supreme predator.
It was an executioner that had grown freely and cultivated savagely within this mountain forest.
In its own domain, no one could overshadow its majestic might.
Nan Zhi had no doubt that if she jumped down, the white tiger would tear open her throat without a second thought.
“Human, lies, stupid.”
The white tiger suddenly opened its massive maw and yawned. Beneath a pair of dagger-like canine teeth was a thick red tongue covered in barbs:
“You, merely, Qi Refinement, weak, cannot kill, this Mountain Lord.”
Unlike the small demons before, what came out of this white tiger’s mouth was enunciated, genuine human speech.
—It was actually a demon that had already refined the transverse bone in its throat.
At level 49, it had to have at least a Foundation Establishment cultivation base.
But she wasn't panicking at all.
When humans fight beasts, they rely on their brains!
Nan Zhi, the Master Swindler, was officially online.
Shielded by the tree branches, she made a motion of tearing something apart, then let out a cold scoff:
“Hmph. That is why a beast is just a beast—your perspective is so shallow. While I only possess a Qi Refinement cultivation, my senior sister is a Golden Core Master.
“She is a once-in-a-century prodigy of the Sword Dao in our Qingyun Sect. With her breathtaking 《Jinghong Sword Art》, she dominated all rivals in the sect competition, earning the renown of ‘Jinghong Fairy.’
“A little demon like you isn't even fit to withstand a single sword strike from my senior sister.
“Just now, I shattered a communication jade talisman. She has already received the message and will arrive flying on her sword any moment!
“Once my senior sister carves out your White Tiger Demon Core, I’ll present it to a sect elder, which might just earn me a Foundation Establishment Pill.
“Wouldn't reaching Foundation Establishment be a matter of time for me?”
Saying so, Nan Zhi laughed, looking the white tiger up and down with contemptuous eyes:
“With my senior sister around, how would you dare lay a finger on me? That’s why I laughed earlier—laughing at how stupid you are.”
“Tiger, does not believe.”
A flicker of suspicion crossed the white tiger’s eyes, and it snorted a long plume of white vapor from its nostrils:
“Prove, it, to, tiger.”
Rate on N.U.
